Specific topic:

Teach kids to remember the relative sizes of standard length units, in order to help them estimate lengths.

Key terms:

Centimeter, inch, foot, yard, meter

centimeter = width of the nail of a normal finger (not thumb)
inch = just over two cm
foot = length of the teacher's foot
yard or meter = about the height of the door knob from the floor

Prerequisite knowledge:

Students should already know the reason behind using standard length units for measurements.


A brief description of the "hook" or activity:

Use Simon Says to ask kids to gesture the relative sizes of standard units with their hands/arms/fingers, to help them remember about how big each one is.


Links to worksheets, interactive widgets, etc (please be as complete as possible here):

N/A


Notes on using this lesson / suggested assessment / etc:

As a follow-up discussion, you can ask them to estimate the sizes of different objects around the room using different units.


Credit sources, if any: